Insincerity
by Jack Mirembe
Summary: He was the most perfect fake she had ever seen.


_I am avoiding a paper. And updates for the others I'm working on aren't coming along fast enough. So here you go! I don't really like Terra, probably because I am such a big Beast Boy fan. But this was sort of fun to write, even if a little unoriginal. Imagine, a Terra fic that deals with lies and betrayal. XD I think it's interesting. Anyways, set before she comes back to the team again, like while she's planning it out with Slade. Hope you like it._

_I don't own the Titans. Sad, no?_

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Traitor.

That was all he was. All he ever was. He was a liar. Worst of all, she had believed him.

She, with all her worldly knowledge and experience, had fallen for his lies. You'd think that after this long and meeting so many people, she'd be able to pick out liars from a distance. Most of the time she could, but normally liars weren't so wonderful.

Every other liar she had ever met had been dark and shady. She could spot the rats because they would run from the light. It always shone through the holes in their stories. Put too much pressure on them and they would crack, falling to pieces like the cheap souvenirs she saw every day. Just like those cheap toys and pieces of junk, the fakes were everywhere and countless.

She hadn't expected one to be pretending to be a hero. Of all things, she thought he would have been smart enough to hide among other liars because scum is harder to see when it's surrounded by trash.

Looking back, she should have realized how brilliant he really was. Nobody ever looks among the stars for garbage. Nobody ever expects it. Yet there he was, polished glass set next to diamonds. The perfect hiding place.

He was a good actor, probably the best she had ever seen. Pretending like he cared, with a smile that disarmed her before she even knew his name. Even before he spoke, he had pulled under his spell. The look of awe and admiration, that had to be just another tool in his bag of tricks.

The awkward shyness? Just a ruse to get her off her guard because funny little boys that start blushing when you look at them are never supposed to have an agenda. All they are supposed to be is sweet, caring, and absolutely wonderful. They are supposed to be the guys that grow up to be something special. It's never supposed to be a mask to hide behind. Apparently that's something he knew. Something he was willing to manipulate.

Even as she ran from his poisoned smiles and too perfect offer, she couldn't help but want to turn back. So what he had told? There was still so much that she was running from. The chance for control. A real home with real people. A second chance with him. Maybe it hadn't been his fault. Maybe he had just let it slip on accident. He wouldn't have done that to her. He was better than that. There was no way a guy like him could ruin something so wonderful on purpose.

But he had. He had betrayed her. Wormed his way into her confidence and gotten in close. Within in days, she had let him closer than any other person her travels had ever brought her across. He had charmed her with his faked innocence and heroism. Used his stupid smile and those darned eyes of his to get her to tell him her only secret. Then he had run away to Robin. He had probably been smiling that same smile when he spilled the beans on her.

A simple toy. That was all she had been to him. Just another game to play, a part to manipulate.

He had the nerve to act innocent when the truth had broken. As if everyone didn't already know he had betrayed her. Like they all hadn't been judging her. It was a good thing she had finally been told the truth.

Otherwise, who knows how much closer he would have gotten.

He was probably laughing about it now. Joking about it with his friends in his castle, king of all the cons. He probably thought it was over. The game was over, the toy was gone, and they had won.

Maybe that would have been the end. But now she had the control he had teased her with. Now she had the home he had tauntingly held before her. She had power, followers, connections, more than anything he could imagine. It was more than enough to destroy him completely a hundred times over.

She wasn't going to let him off that easily. Not after what he did. He was going to pay. She was going to make sure of that. Countless hours of training were fueled by imagining the day he would finally get what he deserved.

She was going to shove every one of his lies back down his throat. And if he was lucky, he would choke on them before she showed him the prize that awaits all traitors and liars.


End file.
